Putin orders Russian troops to keep up war against Ukraine as Trump’s envoy visits Moscow to discuss ceasefire

Russian forces have driven the Ukrainian army out of the biggest town in Russia’s Kursk border region, officials claimed Thursday, as President Trump’s senior envoy arrived in Moscow to discuss a U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire
in the three-year war that Ukraine has endorsed. The Russian Defense Ministry’s claim that forces had recaptured the town of Sudzha, made hours after President Vladimir Putin made a first visit to commanders in Kursk, wearing military fatigues and promising the full recapture of the region, could not be independently verified.

Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on the claim, but it came as a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that Russian troops had made “significant gains” in Kursk over the past week. Russia has been maneuvering to surround the Ukrainian forces who launched a surprise incursion into Kursk months ago, and they have succeeded in doing so to the extent that the Ukrainians will likely soon have to decide whether to withdraw back into Ukraine, or be cut off from their supply lines, the American official told CBS News.

The renewed Russian military push and Putin’s high-profile visit to his troops came as President Trump presses for a rapid diplomatic end to the war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion
on Feb. 24, 2022. The U.S. on Tuesday lifted its March 3 suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing for Kyiv after senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials made progress on how to stop the fighting during talks held in Saudi Arabia.

“It’s up to Russia now,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday, as his administration presses Moscow to agree to the ceasefire. The U.S. president has made veiled threats to hit Russia with new sanctions if it refuses to engage with his peace efforts, saying Wednesday that, “in a financial sense, we could do things very bad for Russia. It would be devastating for Russia. But I don’t want to do that because I want to see peace.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Mr. Trump’s special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Steve Witkoff, was heading to Moscow for talks with Russian officials, possibly including Putin. His plane touched down in Moscow on Thursday morning, but his schedule was not revealed.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that “before the talks start — and they haven’t started yet — it would be wrong to talk about it in public.” The Kremlin has repeatedly ruled out accepting any agreement that sees Western forces deployed in Ukraine to help maintain a peace, something many European nations have said will be needed, though only Britian and France have suggested any willingness to do so.

By signaling its openness to a ceasefire
, Ukraine has presented the Kremlin with a dilemma at a time when the Russian military has the upper hand in the war — whether to accept a truce and abandon hopes of making new gains, or reject the offer and risk derailing a cautious rapprochement with Washington.

The Ukrainian army’s foothold inside Russia has been under intense pressure for months from a renewed effort by Russian forces, backed by North Korean troops. Ukraine’s daring incursion last August led to the first occupation of Russian soil by foreign troops since World War II and embarrassed the Kremlin.

But given the recent Russian advances, Putin did not look like a man who was interested in ordering his forces to lay down their weapons on Wednesday as he visited troops in Kursk, wearing military fatigues and talking strategy with his commanders. He said he expected the military “to completely free the Kursk region from the enemy in the nearest future.”

Putin added that going forward, “it’s necessary to think about creating a security zone alongside the state border,” in a signal that Moscow could try to expand its territorial gains by capturing parts of Ukraine’s neighboring Sumy region. That idea could complicate a ceasefire deal.

Ukraine launched the summer raid into Kursk in a bid to counter the increasingly glum news from the front line, as well as to draw Russian troops away from the battlefield inside Ukraine and gain a bargaining chip in any peace talks. But the incursion failed to significantly change the dynamic of the war.

Ukraine’s top military head, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said late Wednesday that Russian aviation had carried out an unprecedented number of strikes on Kursk and that as a result Sudzha had been almost completely destroyed. He did not comment on whether Ukraine still controlled the settlement but said it was “maneuvering (troops) to more advantageous lines.”

Meanwhile, Major General Dmytro Krasylnykov, commander of Ukraine’s Northern Operational Command, which includes the Kursk region, was dismissed from his post, he told Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne on Wednesday. He told the outlet he was not given a reason for his dismissal, saying “I’m guessing, but I don’t want to talk about it yet.”

contributed to this report.